Bottle-siruping and crown-corking machine



April 30, 1929. MEADOWCRO'F T 1,711,175

BOTTLE SIRUPING AND GROWN CORKING MACHINE Filed July 17, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I07 I06 I08 98 IOI April 30, 1929. .w. MEADOWCROFT 1,711,175

- BOTTLE SIRUPING AND CROWN CORKING MACHINE Filed July 17, 1923 1 4 SheetsSheet 3 INVENTOR April 30, 1929. w MEADOWCROFT 1,711,175

BOTTLE SIRUPTNG AND CROWN CORKING MACHINE Filed July 17, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I NVENTOR Patented Apnfio, 1929.

UNETED'STATES 1,211,175 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM mnanowenorr, or BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

BOTTLE-SIRU'PING AND CROWN-CORKING MACHINE.

Application filed July. 17, 1923, Serial No. 652,089, and in Great Britain September 19, 1922.

This invention relates to a bottle siruping and sealing machine which 18 specially designed for use in connection with a bottle 1 filling machine of the rotary'type, the chief 5 object being to introduce a machine which will automatically transfer bottles from the operators hand to the siruping mechanism, from the latter to thefilling'machine, from the filling machineto the sealing mechanismand from the latterto-aposition in which they canbe removed by the operator thus avoiding the handling of bottles be-' tween the various operations. The machine is specially designed for dealing with bottles ofvarying lengths and'diameters.

7 According to this invention a combined bottle siruping and sealing, machine is provided with automatic bottle transferringap paratus adapted to convey bottles to a-sirup-, ing head, to transfer themfrom the latter to a rotary filling machine, to take the filled bottles from thelast mentioned machine and place them underneath the sealing mechanism and to transfer the sealed bottles to a position in which they can be removed from the siruping and sealing machine by the operator The bottle transferring mechanism comprises a series of jaws adaptedto receive an intermittent rotary motion about a central axis and provided with mechanism forenabling themto grip and release bottles of varying diameters. To accommodate bottles of varying lengths, mechanismis provided for raising and lowering the siruping andv sealing heads and a feature of the invention relatmg to the .slruping portion of the machine consists in so designing the thoroughfares as to obviatefobbing of sirup inithe bottle and soygive quieter filling when the tary bottle filler. [The s'ealing'porti'on of the machine comprises a :hopper connected witheration or into operation at will to enable bottles to be filled; or filled and sealed, with out being siruped. Means are also provided for enabling the sealing mechanism to be bottles are automatically placed in the 10-1.

put into or out of operation at will for In order that the said invention may be] clearly understood and readily carried into effect the same is described more fully with reference to. the accompanying drawings,

wherein:-

Figure 1 1s a vertical section partly in Y elevation of a siruping, crowning and'bottle transferring machine constructed in accordancewith this invention. I I

F'gure 2 is a similar View taken angles to Figure 1 with some of the parts removed, I I

1 Figure 3is a horizontal section of the ,siruping, vcrowning and bottle transferring Inachine,'an'd V Flgure 4 1s aplan of an automatic motion machine if bottles are not" for stopping the removed. Y

Fig; 5 is a vertical section of the bottle transfer mechanism as shown in Fig. 1, but

drawn to a larger scale.

Fig. 6 1s a dGiflllVleWfillOWlIlg the connection of the clutch lever 123 with the clutch; 126. Fig. 7 is a front view of the lower part of the machine showing the'lever 112 "for at right sliding the cam 84 into and out of its operative position. i

1 indicates the base casting to which is attached a frame 2 carrying a horizontal driving shaft, 3 on which is fixed a gear wheel 4 byfmeansof av key 5, the wheel 4 being driven power driven rotary filler such as the one by a suitablefpinion 6 Fig. 8'mounted on the "driving shaft of a suitable multiple headed Which'is described in my application form patent filed July 17, 1923, SerialNumber 652,088, the present machine being timed to place siruped bottles on the bottle rests of the filler to be filled and then to take thefilled bottles from the filleragain for sealing. On

the shaft 8 Fig. l is mounted a cam 7' which intermittently rotates a star wheel 8 carried: I

on a pin 9 which is held-by acasting 1O bolted i i tothezframe 2. The star wheel 8 is connected to a bevel wheel 11 Fig. 2 by a coned ring 12 and three studs 13 to allow of adjusting v1115.; suriaces b drum 23in the upper the mechanism for wear. The bevel wheel ll. meshes with bevel pinion l4-v on a shaft which is tree to rotate in hearing 16 on a stationary table 1'? (3n the shalt 15 is a col lai- 18 on which is a ball race with balls l9 step oil-tin a drum 20 which is tree to revolve roh 1d the shaft l5. On the top of the drum 530 is a collsr 21 which is keyed by a key to the she Cu tire top of the collar 21 is a drum 3 woe to revolve round the shaft 11? and a ball race is formed in the drum 23 and titted with balls 24 which are held in position by plate 25, looking ring 26, and cap nut 27 screwed the sh ed t 15. The two drums 29 and 23 are free to revolve on the shaft 15 independently of each other. In the top of the shaft 15 is an oil well 28 that is closed by the cap nut 27 which is also provided with a detachable plu 29 oil being led to all bearsu able channels. On the coin i is fixed i it suitable position a cam 30 which intermittently raises or lowers a rod 31 passing through the casting 10 and having an adjustable shoe that can be adjusted by a set screw 33 and secured by a lock nut 34:. the shoe 32 one end of a lever 35 that is i ulcruined on a pin 36 carried by the castlO. 'The other end of the lever 85 is supcrted by stud 37 screwed into a i and secured by a nut 39. The i d to a shaft 40 by a red 33, the latter being conl l that secured to the v The shaft 40 is jourbeing bro J- 1. v to each (,1. uni o1.

. y .7 i0 is rotated intermittently by the the cam 30 rod ,1, shoe 32, lever 35, fla ed ii bevel pinion 16 (Fig. 3) by a key 41.? a d 1 ted the bevel pinion 46 also meshes with bevel teeth 49 on the drum 20 to direction, the drums i l rd to the c As the machine is put in n'i-otion a i c 7.7. Fig. 31 the cam 30 the shaft 15 and collar s arr ed crosswise ot' the shaft 15.

S11: 1.5 about the of the latter and it is also oscillated on its own horizontal axis by m a "b st 1d a [q plunger ll, and crank 44; On the shatt 40 isl u a rut -18 so th at when the shaft 40 partly r JROVQS, One SIClG of the bevel pinion 46 ari the other side the bevel. pinion meshes bevel teeth so the drum 23 thus when the shalt 4-0 is oscillated the bevel pinion 1-6 turns the drum 2O 1 one direction and the nt back into their origs 51 which are attech d 1 us 20 and 23 for gripping bottles in the position od 31 thus allowing he drums 20 21:6.

' the earn '2' Fig. 8 sutlicient dis- 3 under the siruping read cone 55, Fig. 1. The cam 30 then lifts the rod 31 thus opening the arms 54-. to release the bottle whilst in the centre ofthe bottle rest 56 which is then operated by a cam 57, roller 58, pin 59, slide 60 spring 61, sleeve 62; thus in a known man nor raisin the bottle e 'ainst siruping head cone ,1 urther u of the cam 57 causes the bottle to rs vcone 5:3,aplunger 633 containing a cocclr valve (3%- and a spring 65 and washer 66 opening a valve 67 when w sher 68 comes against a sleeve 69 carrying puinp packing washers 70 and 71, secured to the sleeve 69 by a nut 72. These washers are then forced upwards thereby injecting sirup contained in a pump barrel 73 past the valve 67 through a passage Yepm the valve (i l and into the bottle which is clamped between thesiruping head and the bottle rest. The 57 then releases the bottle rest which returns o its original level and the bot le also cor es down away from the cone 55 thus allowingthe plunger 63 to fall thereby closing; the valve or and pullin the sleeve 69 and piiunp paclrings '1 O and 71 down the bars-cl T3 thus in a further charge of sirup past a spring controlled valve 75 from a chamber-"Z6 which may be in any position, The plunger brought down 'ards by springs W on rods 78 during the suction stroke of the pump paclrings 70 and 1, the rods 78 being; screwed to the pump case 79 which lS'flXGtl to a bridge 80. The rods "Z8 extend upwards to hold the pump head 81 in position and such. head is fitted with an air release valve 82, which can be i opened by hand to allow any air which has got into the rump cylinder to escape, so that pump can berfilled with sirup. After several bottles have been placed in the position A, Fig. transferred to position B, siruped and moved to position C on the filling machine, they connneuce to come out of the latter position 1) where the arms 54:

get hold of the bottles in turnan d rnove them to position on the bottle rest for sealing an d alter sealingto position F so that the operator can talre thein i i-0111 the machine. The bottle gravity actuated pawl provided with two dotents which are thrust alternately through openings in the chute 95. Each time the lever 72 is operated a seal istrapped in the space between the two detents and is then d1scharged and another seal. lsallowed to r of the latter carries a rotary sleeve formed.

enter the chute, thus keeping a constant number of seals or crowns in: the chute 95 which obviates the bottle being occasionally retained in the cone 90 when the bottle rest 83- comes down, this holding of the bottle being due to the weight of a much larger number of .seals or crowns wedging against the bottle neck. The seal or crown hopper 96 is of usual construction and is supported by a pillar 97 and crown head98 on the bridge 80. Each end with a worm wheel 99 at one end and each sleeve is screwed internally to screw up or.

down pillars 100 attached to thetable 17, the weight of the bridge and its attendant parts being supported by collars 101 on the worm wheel sleeves. The worm wheels 99 are geared together by two worms 102 Fig. 2 fixed on a shaft 103 that is held in two bearings 104 on the bridge 80 and such worms.

termeshing helical wheels 106and 107, the

latter secured on a vertical shaft 108 as shown in Fig. 1, and a wormwheel 109 shown in Fig. 3, which meshes with a worm wheel 110 shown in Fig. 1 and which is mounted 'onthe shaft 3. The latter wheel, has dog clutch teeth not shown) onits outer face to'engage with similar teeth on the wheel 4 and the wheel 110 is free to slide out of engagement with the wheel 4 owing to the action of a spring 111. When the machine is used for bottle transferring and sealing only, the cam 57 (shown inthe disconnected position) is moved from under the roller 58 by a lever 112 Fig. 2, which slides on'a rod 113 Fig. 2 with the result-that the bottle rest 56 is not raised and no bottles are siruped. When the machine is used for siruping and'transferring bottles only when the bottles are not of a type which the machine can seal or crown, the cam 84, Fig. 1 is moved along the shaft-3, out of the path of the roller 85, by a lever 112 as shown in Fig. 7 consequently the bottlerest 83 is not raised and no bottlecan go up to the sealing or crowning cone 90 so that the bottles are brought out to the operator without being closed. The action of the lever 112 in disengaging the cam 84 from theroller also allows a fork 114 Figs. 1 and-2 to come away from the wheel 110 which is then pushed out of engagement with the aforesaid clutch teeth on the wheel 4 by the spring 111 thus allowing the wheel 110 and the hopper agitating mechanism to remain stationary.

When the machine is required to seal'or crown,-

bottles, the lever last mentioned is moved along the shaft 113 to slide the cam 84 under the roller 85 which then puts the bottle rest 83 into action for raising the bottles to. be

sealed or crowned and it also moves the fork moved from the position F Fig. 3, comprises a trigger 115 connected by a squared shaft 116 to a lever 117 whichis held in the position shown by a spring 118 thus holding a catch 119 againsta slide rod 120 which is free to slide in a bracket 121 on the table 17. This .catch mechanism is of any approved construction. The catch 119 shown is pivoted to the lever 117, and is slidable in a guideway in the bracket 121. The slide rod 120 is coupled by a pin 122 Fig. 3 to a clutch lever 123 Fig'.

3 ofa suitable multiple headed power driven rotary filler such for example as the one which is described in my aforesaid application for patent so that when the clutch lever 123 is pulled into its driving position the catch 119 engages with a nick 124 in the slide rod 120 thus holding the clutch lever 123 in its driving position whereupon the pulley 125 is caused to engage with a clutch 126 on'the multiple headed rotary filler 127 thus driving the latter and also the siruping, bottle transferring and sealing or crowning machine by means of the pinion 6 which meshes with the wheel 4. When a bottle is left in the position F Fig. 3 the arms 54 again grip the bottle and try to move it to the position A, but the trigger 115 is inthe path of the bottle and is therefore forced towards the position A, thus pullingthe catch 119 out of the nick 124 and releasing the rod 120 which then allows the clutch lever 123 to move the pulley 125 out of engagement with the clutch 126 owing to the action of a spring 128 thus stopping both the filler and the siruper transferrer and sealer.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States, is

1. In a combined bottle siruping and seal ing machine provided with a siruping head head and a sealing head, automatic bottle transferring apparatus adapted to convey bottles to the siruping head, to transfer them from the latter to a rotary filling machine,

to take the filled bottles from the last menmoved from the siruping and 'sealingmachine by the operator, and means for automatically stopping the machine in the'event of a bottle not being removedby the-operator efter being transferred from nndcrn'ezrt i he sealinghead, to the taking off position, the said means comprising a trigger lever situeted, in the path of a bottle, a two-armed lever rigidly connected with said trigger lever, a catch pivetally connected with one arm (if he said two-mined lever a guide for said catch, a slidable member having a notch for said catch, spring for maintaining seid catch in said notch, a clutch lever connected with said slidable member, a driving pulley slidably mounted on a shaft, a clutch adapted to engage said driving pulley, and spring adapted to disengage the driving pulley from said shaft, and a hand lever for sliding each said cam into and out of its operative positien with relation to its respective bottle rest. 25

In testimony whereof I elliii my signature.

VHLLIAM MEADOWCROFT. 

